BP pulled off something of a coup on Thursday by clinching stakes in Brazil's deepwater acreage, where some of the world's most promising new discoveries have been made but few international oil companies have managed to establish a presence. As part of a wide-ranging $7 billion deal with US-based Devon Energy, which some analysts said looked a tad pricey, BP is buying Devon's interests in 10 Brazilian exploration blocks, a mixture of onshore and offshore. The British supermajor also expanded its significant portfolio in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico by picking up Devon's interests in 240 leases. It also agreed to buy Devon's 5.63% holding in Azerbaijan's Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) field in the Caspian Sea, boosting BP's stake to 39.77%, subject to partner approval. Earlier this week, BP and its partners in ACG announced a $6 billion expansion to extend the field's 1 million b/d plateau oil production. James Batty, London